Fresh water shortages are becoming an increasing problem around the world, with demand for fresh water for human consumption, irrigation, and/or industrial use continuing to grow. In order to meet the growing demand for fresh water, various desalination methods may be used to produce fresh water from salt-containing water such as seawater, brackish water, water produced from oil and/or gas extraction processes, flowback water, and/or wastewater. For example, one desalination method is a humidification-dehumidification (HDH) process, which involves contacting a saline solution with a carrier gas in a humidifier, such that the carrier gas becomes heated and humidified. The heated and humidified gas is then brought into contact with cold water in a dehumidifier, thereby producing pure water.
However, HDH systems and processes often involve certain drawbacks. For example, due to the use of a carrier gas in HDH systems, a large percentage of non-condensable gas (e.g., air) is generally present, which can lead to relatively low heat and mass transfer rates. In addition, the presence of a non-condensable gas in a dehumidifier can increase the thermal resistance to vapor condensation on a cold surface, thereby reducing the effectiveness of surface condensers. HDH systems may, additionally, require relatively large amounts of energy to operate. HDH systems with improved properties such as, for example, reduced power consumption and/or increased heat and mass transfer rates in the presence of non-condensable gases, are therefore desirable.